I know my opinion is going to be unpopular, but I couldn’t finish this book. I was excited by its premise: to use Jane Austen’s novels as inspiration for an examination of a life. Unfortunately, there was way too much Jane Austen for me, and not enough of Ruth Wilson’s examined life. There is an assumed deep knowledge of all Austen’s books, which I do not possess so I found myself skimming more and more. The balance between academic research and memoir is too heavily weighed towards the academic for my liking.
This book is for the Austen fans only.